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Organization and Management of Coopetition - Trust the Competition, Not the Competitor

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Organization and Management of Coopetition - Trust the Competition, Not the Competitor Organization and Management of Coopetition - Trust the Competition, Not the Competitor Master’s Thesis 30 credits Department of Business Studies Uppsala University Spring Semester of 2015 Date of Submission: 2015-05-29 Jessica Winberg Hedvig Öster Supervisor: Katarina Hamberg Lagerström ABSTRACT In the search for innovation, high technology firms in the same industries turn to each other for R&D collaborations. The collaboration form where competitors cooperate have been defined as “coopetition” and the term builds on the interplay between competitive and cooperative forces. While coopetition brings benefits such as shared risks and costs, it implies organizational and managerial challenges as two opposing logics merge. This complexity calls for a deeper understanding of how firms organize and manage coopetition and why they organization and manage coopetition in the way they do. This thesis is set to answer these questions by empirically investigate coopetition at a case firm active in a high technology context with a long experience of collaborating with competitors. By acknowledging coopetition as a phenomenon carried out in the shape of projects, the internal organization and management could been thoroughly understood as project management allows a more detailed view of coopetition. Key findings concludes that in this empirical context, finance is the prior reason for engaging in coopetition, competitive forces are superior to cooperative forces in coopetition projects and that coopetition influence innovation more through contributing with funding than by an exchange of knowledge between competitors. All these aspects are further stated to impact organization and management of coopetition. Key Words: Coopetition, Competition, Cooperation, Organization, Management, High Technology Industry, Innovation, Project Management 2015 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT When two best friends that already spends all waking time in each other’s company, decides to write a master thesis together, some may say it is bound for a catastrophe. We argue to differ. After spending five months researching and writing this thesis, we are happy to announce that we have come out of the social challenge with our minds and friendship intact, but with greater knowledge and an extended English vocabulary. Our greatest thankfulness and recognition goes to our supervisor and judge, Katarina Hamberg Lagerström. Without her pressure on us “to just decide” and her valuable feedback, we would not have enjoyed the thesis progress as much as we’ve had. We would also like to thank our opponents, Gustav Dahlin and William Dannevig, as well as our seminar group for valuable discussions and insights. A loving thanks also goes out to our parents who have acted as social ventilators and constant critical reviewers during this process. Finally, we did decide, and it resulted in this master thesis, which marks the end of five years of studying. Now, we look forward to the next chapter. ______________________________ ______________________________ Jessica Winberg Hedvig Öster Uppsala University Uppsala, 29 May 2015 2 2015 TABLE OF CONTENT 1. INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................................ 5 1.1. RESEARCH PURPOSE AND CONTRIBUTION ................................................................................................................ 7 1.2. THESIS DISPOSITION ......................................................................................................................................................... 9 2. THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ................................................................................................................. 10 2.1. COOPETITION - A COMBINATION OF COMPETITION AND COOPERATION ...................................................... 10 2.2. UNDERSTANDING FEATURES OF COOPETITION ..................................................................................................... 12 2.3. COOPETITION ORGANIZED IN PROJECTS .................................................................................................................. 13 2.4. SEPARATION AND INTEGRATION OF COOPETITION PROJECTS .......................................................................... 15 2.4.1. The Separation Principle ......................................................................................................................................... 16 2.4.2. The Integration Principle ......................................................................................................................................... 16 2.5. MANAGEMENT OF COOPETITION PROJECTS ........................................................................................................... 17 2.5.1. Knowledge Acquisition ............................................................................................................................................. 17 2.5.2. Knowledge Protection ............................................................................................................................................... 18 2.6. TRUST .................................................................................................................................................................................. 19 2.7. SUMMARY OF THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK ............................................................................................................ 20 3. METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................. 22 3.1. RESEARCH APPROACH ................................................................................................................................................... 22 3.2. CASE STUDY ...................................................................................................................................................................... 23 3.2.1. Case Selection .............................................................................................................................................................. 23 3.3. DATA COLLECTION ......................................................................................................................................................... 25 3.3.1. Pre-Study ........................................................................................................................................................................ 25 3.3.2. Primary Data ................................................................................................................................................................ 25 3.3.3. Interview Guide and Process .................................................................................................................................. 26 3.3.4. Secondary Data ............................................................................................................................................................ 27 3.4. DATA PRESENTATION AND ANALYSIS ...................................................................................................................... 28 3.5. QUALITY OF STUDY AND RESEARCH LIMITATIONS ............................................................................................. 29 4. CASE FINDINGS ............................................................................................................................................... 31 4.1. FEATURES OF COOPETITION ......................................................................................................................................... 31 4.2. COOPETITION PROJECTS CHARACTERISTICS .......................................................................................................... 34 4.3. ORGANIZING COOPETITION PROJECTS ..................................................................................................................... 35 4.3.1. Working in Parallel Projects .................................................................................................................................. 36 4.4. KNOWLEDGE ACQUISITION IN COOPETITION PROJECTS .................................................................................... 37 4.5. KNOWLEDGE PROTECTION IN COOPETITION PROJECTS ..................................................................................... 38 4.6. TRUST YOUR COMPETITORS? ...................................................................................................................................... 41 5. ANALYSIS ........................................................................................................................................................... 42 5.1. MOTIVES FOR COOPETITION AND ITS ORGANIZATION ........................................................................................ 42 5.2. PROJECT CHARACTERISTICS INFLUENCE ON ORGANIZATION .......................................................................... 43 5.2.1. Project Task ................................................................................................................................................................... 43 5.2.2. Project Time .................................................................................................................................................................. 44 5.2.3 Project Teams ...............................................................................................................................................................
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